Within the last year I have watched my family and myself become better versions of ourselves. I've felt bonds strengthen, happiness heighten, and we're just in general, better than we have ever been. But you know... as in everything else in the world, life demands balance. And I don't expect sympathy. This is literally just a way for me to get things (well, what I CAN talk about on Social media) out. To effectively balance the good things we have experienced, we have met with extreme negativity from an abundance of people. Some unexpected, some not so much.
My heart has been consumed with caring about what these people think of me and my family, and I've finally reached a point where I don't care. Me and my family care deeply about a lot of things. We are active in the community. We help people whenever and however we can. It's just something that we've come to understand about the Universe. Happiness comes to those who give of their time, their minds, and their hearts, and yes in some cases, their money. It's hard for people who thrive on drama and misery to understand someone who doesn't. It's harder for them to wrap their mind around why someone who previously thrived on those things would suddenly not want it in their lives any more. They try like hell to hold onto you, digging their claws of hate, gossip, despair, and disarray into you. They make you question if you are "forgetting where you come from". They manipulate you into thinking YOU are in the wrong for wanting to be more positive.
People are allowed to change. People SHOULD change. Change means growth. Growth means experience and knowledge. And in the end, happiness and success.
I've learned a lot over just the last month about who truly matters. Between a team of people willing to come together and spend and entire day on a lemonade stand for Pediatric Cancer Research, to massive prayers for my husband who is lying in a hospital while I sit here typing this. People who private message me on Facebook, or text me, or call me and say the sweetest things, or compliments that I have no idea how to accept, because I have no idea how someone like me could have inspired them, but I say thank you. People who welcomed me and my children to events with open arms. Friends who look past my husband's wheelchair, and see a person; and real human being, not a cripple with no future, and only limitations. People who live all across this country, who have never met me in person, but call to check on me to see how I am doing. People who go out of their way to help someone in need. Those people matter. Those people are lights. Those people are people who inspire. Those are the people I want to be around. Those are the people who I want my family to be around. Those are the people who will be role models for my daughters.
A new chapter is unfolding in our lives. Something big is going to happen, I can feel it. Consistent work on planning for the brighter future, and remaining constant in our thoughts of happiness has brought about some amazing opportunity and change. We are ready to look forward into a new future with open hearts and open minds. And I could not be more grateful for the people we hold dear. At the end of the day, we all have to take inventory of what we've done. Have we sewn seeds of hope and love, or misery and pain? I'm not in the business of harvesting crap, so I think I'll stick to the hope and love.
Special thanks to The Chambers family, Jenn Murphy, The Blackwells, Team Fit Future, The Isabella Santos Foundation, Chris Wilcox and family, Woody Wood and family, The PPSC, The Vondrans aka You People Kobleske's, and Watsons., and some of you Rebaglia's too.
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